The battery, which will have a 500MW/2000MWh capacity, will be funded as part of the State Government’s commitment to expand battery storage throughout Western Australia (WA).

Collie-based earthworks and rehabilitation specialists Cardinal Contractors has been awarded the contract to complete site preparation earthworks for the battery facility, with up to 500 jobs expected to be created at the peak of construction.

The battery is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

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Commented energy minister Reece Whitby in a release: “This is an exciting milestone for Western Australia’s decarbonisation journey.

“Synergy’s ground-breaking project is significant for the Collie community and will help local workers and families as Synergy seeks to exit coal-fired power by 2030.

“When complete, this battery will support reliability and more renewable energy on WA’s main electricity grid.”

Added Collie-Preston MLA Jodie Hanns: “The build of Australia’s biggest battery right here in Collie marks a significant point in the energy transition.

“Collie has been at the heart of WA’s energy system for decades and will continue to play an important role in the future.

“I’m delighted that a local business has been selected to be part of this project, creating local jobs as part of the ongoing support for our community by the Cook Labor government.”

Large-scale batteries provide long-term system stability to the power grid and support the uptake of more renewables, with Synergy planning to build 3GWh of storage by 2025.

The battery in Collie is the latest project coming from the company, with Kwinana Battery Stage One providing power to the South West Interconnected System since it was completed in May 2023.

Kwinana Battery Stage Two is under construction and is due to be completed in late 2024.

Originally published on Power Engineering International.

The 49MW/98MWh standalone project near Abernethy, Scotland, progressively came online from November 2023 as site sections were finalised, and was fully energised when construction was completed in early February 2024.

The Jamesfield battery system utilises 2-hour duration Tesla Megapack lithium-ion batteries, together with Tesla’s Autobidder AI software for real-time trading and control. Independent renewable energy company RES is the asset manager.

TagEnergy Chief Executive Officer Franck Woitiez said in a release that energisation of TagEnergy’s third battery energy storage facility in the UK was a testament to the momentum it has built in the UK as it speeds up the energy transition:

“This is another important marker for TagEnergy in the UK and beyond as we leverage our substantial storage expertise to help stabilise the grid and make a meaningful difference to the planet by relentlessly pursuing a renewables-led energy future.

“Our three completed projects, together with the more than 200MW of BESS under construction in the UK, is testament both to our commitment and the success of our approach.”

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The Jamesfield development became a joint venture with Harmony Energy, following TagEnergy’s acquisition of a 60% stake in the project in November 2021. Santander UK supported the green energy initiative with £12.5 million ($15.9 million) funding.

It was TagEnergy’s third investment in battery storage facilities in the UK to become operational, after Hawkers Hill Energy Park and Chapel Farm.

Those projects, together with other storage projects under construction, take TagEnergy’s secured portfolio in the UK to 320MW/640MWh.

Harmony Energy chief executive officer Peter Kavanagh added: “The completion of the Jamesfield BESS is another significant milestone for our valued partnership with TagEnergy, following the success of our other joint venture site, Chapel Farm.

“Battery energy storage systems are vital for unlocking the full potential of renewable energy in the UK. They play a pivotal role in advancing the Net Zero transition through the reduction of CO2 emissions and are crucial for securing the future stability of the UK’s energy supply and reducing dependence on foreign gas imports.”

In a release, NatPower Group CEO Fabrizio Zago said the announcement marks the largest programme for the development of battery energy storage systems in the UK.

With a capacity of over 60GWh, the programme is expected to make up 15 to 20% of the UK’s battery energy storage system needs by 2024.

Specifically, NatPower UK – which is owned by Luxembourg-based global developer NatPower Group – has planned large-scale, nationwide development of battery energy storage systems.

Rollout will start with three ‘GigaParks’ to be licensed by later this year and another 10 by 2025.

Alongside the upcoming battery pipeline, the company announced the allocation of over £600 million ($770.6 million) towards developing substations to help speed up connections to the power grid.

Added to this are plans to develop large-scale solar and wind energy infrastructure, which will be announced with more detail by NatPower UK later this year.

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Commented Zago: “Today we present the largest programme for the development of battery energy storage systems, over 60GWh in the UK, and we are ready to collaborate with institutions and players in the sector to make the energy production system increasingly efficient”.

The more renewable energy fed into the distribution network from renewable sources, the more batteries are needed to store for use when there are peaks in energy consumption or when renewable sources are not available.

Said Stefano DM Sommadossi, CEO of NatPower UK: “To resolve the constraints that are slowing down investments in renewable energy, we will make investments in the energy distribution network, upgrading the substations for at least 15-20% of the new requirement.

“By investing in substations early on and focusing on energy storage systems, we will facilitate the next phase of the clean energy transition, thereby reducing the cost of energy for consumers.”

Added Sommadossi: “When it comes to resources, skills, policies, and investment, the UK is unrivalled and companies like NatpPower will help achieve the goal the country has set for itself.

Following the start of grid interconnection in September 2023, the 25MW/100MWh EVx GESS in Rudong achieved full interconnection after the completion of the final 4km 35kV overhead power line to a remote end substation, as planned with local state grid authorities.

Upon final provincial and state approvals for the start of commercial operation to the state grid, the Rudong EVx will be the world’s first commercial, utility-scale non-pumped hydro gravity energy storage system.

The announcement comes alongside the announcement of new EVx projects between Energy Vault and partners China Tianying and Atlas Renewable on three projects, which commenced in 2023, including:

• 17MW/68MWh EVx GESS deployment in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, being built adjacent to a renewable energy generation site and a national grid interconnection site;
• 50MW/200MWh EVx located in Ziuquan City, Jinta County, Gansu Province;
• 25 MW/100 MWh EVx located in Huailai Cunrui Town, Zhangjiakou County, Hebei Province

The latter two projects were previously announced alongside four other deployments in China and are being built adjacent to renewable energy generation and national grid interconnection sites.

Upon completion, the systems will augment and support the ongoing balancing of China’s national energy grid through the storage and delivery of renewable energy.

“I am pleased to see the increased market adoption of Energy Vault’s gravity energy storage technology in China, the world’s largest energy storage market supported by the new project groundbreaking announcements and other milestones within China’s national energy policy framework for energy storage,” said Robert Piconi, chairman and chief executive officer of Energy Vault, in a release.

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China & gravity energy storage pilots

The Rudong and Zhangye City EVx systems were recently selected and announced formally as part of a list of projects with the classification of “new energy storage pilot demonstration projects” by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA).

Projects selected as demonstration pilots receive increased management oversight by provincial-level energy authorities, supporting progress on construction, data reporting, compliance and safety measures, among other issues of focus.

According to Energy Vault, this highlights the substantial surge in demand for renewable energy sources and emphasises the role of gravity energy storage in China’s path to decarbonisation.

China’s energy policies now require renewable energy plants to integrate storage of 20% of their nameplate generation capacity, with at least a two to four-hour duration.

These energy storage durations are expected to increase over time as more renewable energy generation becomes a larger percentage of grid power.

Andrea Pedretti, Energy Vault’s chief technology officer, said: “Having just spent the last few days in Rudong at the EVx site, I continue to be impressed with the local technical, R&D and construction expertise brought by China Tianying and their partners.

“Coupled with their internal and local manufacturing capabilities for all of the mechanical systems, we have a great partner to rapidly deploy our EVx and broader gravity energy storage technology in China.”

With the announcements, Energy Vault’s partners, CNTY and Atlas Renewable, now have nine EVx GESS deployments underway in China totalling 3.7GWh, each of which will generate future project revenue royalties for Energy Vault.

With the acquisition, energy supplier EDF is positioning itself to meet the expected take-up of solar panels as the demand increases, with projections indicating an up to 75% increase by 2030.

It also forms part of the company’s plans to provide a ‘whole house’ net zero home offering, combining solar, battery, EV charge points and heat pumps and follows the earlier acquisition in November 2023 of the heat pump installer CB Heating.

“This investment marks another important step forward in our commitment to helping our customers achieve net zero,” commented Philippe Commaret, Managing Director of Customers at EDF.

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“We know more and more people want to save cash and carbon and by acquiring a company like Contact Solar we can help them by providing better value and a truly great end-to-end solar panel install service, utilising a company whose expertise, knowledge and service is exceptional.”

Contact Solar, which was founded over a decade ago, is a specialist installer of domestic and commercial solar and battery storage systems and electric vehicle charge points and has gained an ‘Excellent’ rating for its services on the review site Trustpilot.

Contact Solar’s network of local installers across the country will work with EDF to deliver residential installs alongside solutions for local authorities, housing associations and developers in building and retrofitting homes.

EDF also intends to explore the possibility of upskilling engineers already working on home energy solutions to install solar panels, alongside other zero carbon products such as EV chargers or heat pumps.

Expressing delight that EDF had chosen to acquire Contact Solar, director Tom Taylor said: “We are excited about the limitless opportunities that lie ahead and look forward to working alongside EDF to help more customers install solar and batteries in their homes, as the country moves towards a greener future.”

Customers in Britain with ten 4kWp of solar panels along with a 5.32kWh battery could save up to three-quarters on their annual energy bill, modelling indicates.

Customers who opt for an installation will be provided with a personalised performance estimate based on their property type, size, location and household usage.

BayWa r.e. installed three new rooftop arrays and one new ground-mounted system to expand renewable energy utilisation onsite. These PV systems with a total capacity of 690kWp are now connected to the power grid without their own inverters, but via an existing 2MW wind turbine. A 10MWh flow battery energy storage system completes the triad.

Technically sophisticated, it represents a plant combination of wind and solar energy including battery storage, which is said to be unique in Europe in this form.

Leveraging Ampt String Optimisers, each of the different technologies was integrated through a shared DC bus – commonly referred to as a “DC-coupled” architecture. In this way, the generation variability across the PV systems can be managed and the different systems united at a high and fixed voltage to increase system efficiency.

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“We are delighted to bring this milestone project to life. Ampt’s technology simplified a technically very complex project,” said Andrea Grotzke, global director of energy solutions at BayWa r.e. “The way we have added solar to the existing wind energy and battery storage system is unique, and in successfully completing this project we were able to further improve our own expertise and capabilities. We are pleased with the result of this innovative power solution symbiosis and our ability to meet our customer’s individual requirements.” 

The main campus of the Fraunhofer Institute ICT has over 100 laboratories, as well as several pilot plants and three test centres on a 21-hectare site. This project will make a valuable contribution to their increasingly climate-neutral operation.

Ampt String Optimisers are DC/DC converters that perform maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and recover energy losses due to voltage and technology differences. Through individual string MPPT, Ampt optimisers mitigate the energy losses caused by shade from surrounding buildings on the Fraunhofer ICT campus. The optimisers are programmable and provide string-level data, which enhances visibility of the system functions as well as operation and maintenance capabilities.

Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt said, “Combining both rooftop and ground-mounted solar in seven different orientations and two module sizes in one common microgrid with wind power and batteries is a significant challenge. This project is a testament to the capabilities of our industry-leading power conversion technology to simplify control of the diverse systems spread across a site.”

“We look forward to expanding our relationship with BayWa r.e. and continuing to deploy our technology to solve the challenges of our customers in solar and energy storage applications.”

Dr. Frank Henning, institute director of Fraunhofer ICT, added: “It was important for us to add solar to the microgrid that powers our campus, to bring additional flexibility and ensure higher utilisation of our system. Sustainability plays a crucial role for Fraunhofer ICT, and by combining the advantages of wind, solar and storage, we are ensured to meet our sustainability goals and operate in a responsible manner.”

This was the consensus of panellists who participated in a discussion at the Africa Green Economy Summit in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to Marketsandmarkets, the global Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) market is expected to grow to $17.5 billion by 2028, and while Africa is looking to tap into this growing market, the continent first needs to overcome challenges to building a home-grown battery supply chain.

Mitigating cost through partnerships

Setting up a battery precursor facility is costly and one panellist who knows about that risk is Deshan Naidoo, managing director of Afrivolt.

Afrivolt is developing Africa’s first lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility with a 5GWh installed capacity. The gigafactory will likely be located in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to Naidoo, it will require about $100 million per GWh installed, which indicates the significant foreign direct investment needed to unlock this opportunity.

The good news, explained Naidoo, is that there is a lot of capital available from local and international investors and even though the cost of localising these production facilities is high, there is tremendous economic value added by localising this technology.

The key is partnerships, he said.

Naidoo explained: “We are not going to achieve this energy transition or localisation of the value chains unless we are able to achieve international technology partnerships,” adding that Africa has never been a leader in terms of technology development so an emulation strategy makes sense.

“Afrivolt has built up these partnerships around the cell manufacturing side and on the battery precursor side,” such as US partners that can tailor the cathode chemistry based on local mineral deposits.

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Current opportunities and challenges

Panellists agreed on the importance of partnerships but identified several challenges hindering progress.

Nathan Fredericks, Industry Development Planner: Office of the COO at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, stated that for an international OEM to consider partnering, policy support, evidence of supply chain, and capital must be evident.

And while the continent, and more specifically South Africa, is making headway in this regard, there is still work to be done, they agreed.

To encourage investment and development, special economic development zones are being established across Africa. These zones, according to panellists, are focus areas for investment designed to establish the infrastructure and logistics needed for effective supply chain functioning.

Maidei Matika, chief investment facilitator at GIDZ, emphasised the importance of these zones but explained that to develop facilities within them, power, water, sewage etc. are needed – and in South Africa, for example, there is a big problem with a lack of power generation capacity.

This makes it tricky, said Matika, because they are promoting investment opportunities while simultaneously finding solutions to the local challenges that ultimately hinder investment. “It’s two sides of the same coin, you are wanting a green economy and renewable energy solutions…and without that, you can’t promote the production you want to see”.

The fact that the battery value chain runs through several sectors and other value chains also brings a unique set of challenging dynamics said Fredericks, not to mention the role of geopolitics, the lack of political will and competition with China.

In terms of South Africa, added Fredericks, the country has a vibrant energy sector, good industrial roots, and demand pathways. And even though the battery industry is still nascent and skills still need to be developed, it’s possible to leverage the country’s deep industrial base to maximise local supply chain development.

A working partnership

There are examples of successful partnerships spurring the development of Africa’s battery supply chain.

Zitto Alfayo, head of project preparation at Afreximbank UK, highlighted the partnership between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), home to lithium and cobalt resources, and Zambia, which is well endowed with manganese and copper.

Around 2021, explained Alfayo, as discussions about electric vehicles gained momentum across the continent, Afreximbank started exploring opportunities to start manufacturing locally, rather than merely exporting minerals abroad.

Ultimately, Afreximbank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia formed an agreement and established a special economic zone for the production of battery electric vehicles and related services.

This was a first on the continent, said Alfayo, adding that “through this kind of intervention, the cost of producing and setting up a battery precursor plant on the continent was three times cheaper than in the US or China”.

“This makes a lot of sense from an economic perspective,” he said.

Setting up a fully-fledged industrial plant via a special economic zone allows Africa to be strategically positioned up the value chain and positions the continent strategically to produce batteries for the continent and globally.

And thus far, the partnership is proving successful in that regard, said Alfayo, adding that they have recently secured international partnerships with the likes of China.

Panellists agreed that the cost and challenges are evident but the opportunities for Africa are transformational.

Concluded Alfayo: “We have all the ingredients that can power the energy transition…there is an opportunity to reimagine, reinvent and reposition how Africa goes about the energy transition.”

Powin, a US-based energy storage platform provider, will provide its Stack750 energy storage system with integrated StackOS software, while Pulse will oversee asset delivery and manage operations across the project lifecycle.

The Overhill project is scheduled to enter full commercial operations by mid-2025.

The project will provide services to maintain balance within the power grid, enabling more renewables to be connected securely to the UK energy system.

Once operational, the Scottish battery project will be capable of storing surplus renewable generation during periods of high production for release back into the grid during periods of lower production or high system demand.

“After detailed evaluation, Pulse determined that Powin’s capabilities and technology stack placed them as one of the leading players in the BESS market. This agreement with Powin underscores our shared commitment to innovation and the pursuit of a cleaner, more affordable and secure energy system,” said Aazzum Yassir, director of Technology & Operations at Pulse.

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BESS deployments

The agreement, which according to Energy-Storage News is a first for Powin in the UK, comes after numerous other battery energy storage deployments by Powin and in the UK.

Two weeks prior, Powin announced a project alongside Galp, a Portuguese-integrated energy company.

The two companies will instal a utility-scale BESS at one of Galp’s solar power plants near Alcoutim, a small village in the country’s sunny southern region of the Algarve, where Galp operates several projects with a combined capacity of 144MW.

The batteries will allow Galp to store the solar energy produced in periods of high generation, and to deploy it during periods of high demand, alleviating stress from the power grid.

“This particular project with Galp is bigger than its MW impact – it is the beginning of a new partnership and is Powin’s first project in Europe following the opening of our Madrid office. Europe is expected to deploy over 90GWh of utility-scale battery energy storage projects by 2030 and we are well positioned to support this demand along with the wider EMEA region’s rapid energy storage growth,” said Powin CEO, Jeff Waters.

Additionally, in the UK, several announcements have been made of BESS deployments to support the power grid.

Earlier this week, British energy developer Balance Power secured planning approval for a 40MW battery storage project in Cheshire, which will export stored renewable power to the grid when demand is high.

The project, located in Cheadle, will balance intermittency on the UK grid and provide stability for around 90,000 homes.

Announced the same day as Balance Power, news was released of financial close for TagEnergy’s 49.9MW/99.8MWh Pitkevy facility in Fife, Scotland, the company’s sixth battery energy storage system (BESS) project in the UK.

The project marks TagEnergy’s first split-contract project, with Tesla providing a Megapack 2XL battery system and contractor RJ McLeod executing site works and installation. Flexitricity will be acting as route to market and battery optimiser and RES has been appointed as asset manager.

The British government has established targets to ensure the power sector achieves net zero by 2035.

By 2030, the UK will require nearly 40GWh of BESS to help integrate renewable energy, enhancing the stability and security of the UK electricity system. BESS is a key enabler to help the government reach this ambitious goal.

The package, originally secured to finance the construction and operation of TagEnergy’s Lakeside BESS project in October 2023, included an uncommitted accordion facility, enabling TagEnergy to incorporate Pitkevy into the funding structure.

The UK battery project also marks TagEnergy’s first split-contract project, with Tesla providing a Megapack 2XL battery system, and contractor RJ McLeod executing the site works and installation of the battery containers.

Flexitricity partners as route to market and battery optimiser, while independent renewable energy company RES has been appointed as asset manager.

Franck Woitiez, chief executive officer of TagEnergy said in a release: “We are proud to leverage this landmark debt package – secured without a revenue floor under our innovative financing model – to bring another facility to life as we work to add stability to the grid and accelerate the energy transition towards net zero.”

“Equally, we are pleased to be working with our trusted group of partners, from funding through to operations, to deliver the Pitkevy facility that takes TagEnergy’s secured portfolio to 320MW as we expand our footprint in the UK for the benefit of people and the planet.”

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Andy Lowe, CEO at Flexitricity, added: “TagEnergy is driving change in the clean energy sector and we are delighted to now contract with them, having been working in partnership for a number of years.

“BESS projects like Pitkevy have a vital role to play in the UK energy transition and we’re confident that our advanced machine learning expertise and trading capabilities will deliver market-leading value.”

Construction has commenced and the energy park is scheduled to be operational at the end of 2024.

Financing breakdown

The project was financed under a non-recourse green loan package of up to £70 million ($88.2 million), provided by lenders Santander UK, Rabobank, and Triple Point on a fully merchant basis, except for Capacity Market revenues.

As for the Lakeside facility, the debt was arranged by IDCM as financial advisor, with TLT serving as borrower legal advisor, Burges Salmon as lender legal advisor, Aurora Energy Research as energy analytics provider, Everoze as technical advisor, WTW as insurance advisor, Ester as hedge advisor and RSM as the model auditor.

Jan Libicek, investment director at Triple Point, said: “We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with TagEnergy and contribute to the expansion of the BESS sector in the UK.

“Our commitment to funding new BESS developments stands at the forefront of our strategy to foster a decarbonised energy grid. This collaboration highlights our mutual dedication to advancing the UK’s journey towards a cleaner, sustainable, and more resilient energy future.”

TagEnergy acquired its 100% stake in the battery storage facility from Intelligent Land Investments Group Plc in October 2022.

The project, located in Cheadle, will balance intermittency on the UK grid and provide stability for around 90,000 homes, a crucial service as the UK transitions towards net zero and renewable power plays an increasing role in the country’s energy mix.

The storage facility is due to be operational in 2028, with construction planned to begin as early as 2026. After its 40-year lifecycle the project will be decommissioned, and the site will be returned to its former use and condition.

Commenting on the battery storage project in a release, Dan Levy, planning lead at Balance Power, said: “We’re extremely excited about securing planning permission for this battery storage facility.

“Not only will it make a significant contribution to Staffordshire Moorlands achieving its objectives to be carbon neutral by 2030, and bring new clean energy infrastructure to the area, but battery storage is also essential for the UK’s transition to net zero. It’s crucial in diversifying the energy network and reducing the need for fossil fuel technologies.”

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By enabling more renewable power onto the grid, the Cheadle project will lead to the avoidance of around 5,500 tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to taking 2,000 cars off the road.

Prior to approval, Balance Power worked with the community, town council and local district councillors in Staffordshire Moorlands during a period of consultation.

Staffordshire Moorlands Council unanimously voted in favour of the project after Balance Power conducted extensive community engagement and received no objections to the project from members of the public.

“We’re also really proud to have received unanimous support from Staffordshire Moorlands and for the strong support we also received from Cheadle Town Council and nearby residents,” added Levy.

Balance Power has since 2017 taken nearly 40 energy projects through to planning consent, creating 426MW of capacity to support the grid. The company also has upward of 1.4GW of projects under development.

At least half of the utilities reported increases in solar panels and electric vehicles over the past three years and just over a third an increase in batteries. Looking ahead, the majority also foresee further increases in all these resources.

But while this broad panorama is understood by the utilities, more granular details are harder to track, the survey found, with data showing a lack of clarity as they try to understand the location, size and activity of these resources.

For example, DER location information is often accessible only for resources that are either connected to grid management software such as a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) or required to submit interconnection requests to connect to the grid – or in some cases both.

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Almost three-quarters of the respondents rely solely on interconnection requests and/or integrations with platforms like DERMS to gather location information but it remains incomplete as the majority of customers are not enrolled in DER management programmes.

Overall, the utilities estimate, they have visibility into little more than a third on average of the DERS on their grid – and this is creating operational issues with nearly three quarters citing challenges including voltage visibility and control, back-feeding, protection and control coordination, distribution transformer and conductor overloads and masked or hidden loads.

“The complexities associated with behind-the-meter DERs are a significant challenge to electricity distribution utilities in North America,” comments Marcus McCarthy, SVP of Siemens Grid Software, US and Mexico.

He points out that technology can help by providing actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges of these resources to improve grid resilience.

“The software and digitalisation tools we implement today, will not only increase capacity, but aid in reliability – laying the foundation for an autonomous and advanced clean grid of the future.”

Demand side management

That technology, DER management programmes but especially the more easily implemented demand side management programmes, is pointed to in the survey with over two-thirds implementing such programmes and planning to expand them in the next five years.

With this, more than half of the respondents expect visibility into the behaviour and location of behind-the-meter DERs to benefit their operations by reducing their SAIDI and SAIFI metrics and increasing productivity.

Based on the findings of the survey Siemens offers three key recommendations for utilities, of which one is obviously to invest in the technologies that boost visibility behind the meter as a necessity to successfully navigate the energy transition and future-proof the grid.

The others are to prioritise strategies like demand side and DER management programmes for increased flexibility behind the meter and to strengthen customer trust to enable boosting participation in management programmes.

“With a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs and preferences, utilities can develop transparent policies and practices that reduce barriers to programme enrolment, including lack of interest and hesitation to share information.”

The survey Seeing behind the meter was undertaken with Oxford Economics and was based on input from 100 decision makers from electric utilities in the US and Canada.

When one thinks of professionals in the electricity sector one tends to think first of engineers as a key role, be they electrical or mechanical.

But a new study by Britain’s Institute of Physics (IOP) highlights the important role of physics and physicists in delivering the energy transition and net zero – and perhaps no less important.

For example, physics has played a uniquely important role in the development of climate science which uses physics modelling techniques to help understand our world and its biosphere.

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Equally, most clean technologies are built on physics discovery and innovation and need physics skills for their continued development.

Tellingly, the study reports, since 2006 almost three-quarters of the £2.4 billion UKRI research council R&D investment in five of the central green economy technology areas – nuclear, renewables, hydrogen and clean fuels, energy storage and carbon capture, usage and storage – has been for research topics classed by the IOP as ‘core physics’ and ‘strongly physics’.

In particular, the greatest investment has been into less mature research topics, such as energy storage and newer areas of nuclear such as fusion, while hydrogen has seen a slight increase in growth over the last five years.

Conversely, the better established technology areas such as wind have seen lower levels of funding across the two decades, reflecting the maturity from an R&D perspective.

Green technology advancement

The report Physics powering the green economy states that investment in physics R&D over the last two decades has enabled a dramatic transformation in the energy system, reduced the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and supported the development of significant numbers of low carbon businesses.

However, the scale of change still required cannot be overstated – as indeed IOP members believe, with 83% of those responding to a survey not thinking the UK is on track to net zero in 2050.

The report continues that each of the five technology areas are crucial to growing the green economy, but none will achieve this alone and they need to work in concert to successfully replace fossil fuels.

For example, the non-constant nature of renewable electricity generation from solar and wind means that energy storage is vital to their effective deployment.

Aside from fossil fuels, only nuclear energy or gas turbines/combined-cycle gas turbines powered by hydrogen or alternative fuels, and/or with carbon capture and storage, can provide the constant baseload power.

Alternative fuels are needed to power aircraft and heavy vehicles for which battery power is not enough.

Meanwhile, carbon capture, usage and storage is vital as a mitigating technology while fossil fuels continue to be used in conjunction with alternative fuels.

From its analysis, the IOP identifies no less than 41 key green technology advancement areas and 158 physics dependencies underpinned by a wide range of physics disciplines that are still needed to unlock their potential as drivers of change.

For example, for renewables the development of materials is a recurring theme to enable improvements in performance and scaling.

For solar energy high priorities are advancements in both solar electrical and solar thermal, while for wind energy storage and grid capacity as well as alternative wind turbine designs are named as short term priorities.

Similarly improvements in energy storage are needed with optimised lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries short-term priorities, while hydrogen as a national-scale storage solution is in the mid-term.

For nuclear the priority is seen as its ability to deliver flexibility to the system.

Building the business base

The report also points to the need to build on the business base – currently numbering 1,653 and 119 unique green economy companies across the UK and Ireland respectively – to drive sector growth and international competition.

However, there are challenges. Skills shortages was highlighted as the top one for growing the green economy, with others the lack of infrastructure and public attitudes.

In conclusion – and while focussed on the UK situation but undoubtedly applicable in numerous other countries – the report calls for public and private investment in physics R&D to remain a high priority and for policies to support business innovation.

“Physicists, trained to tackle complex systems through data analysis, have a vital role to play in developing solutions. A healthy physics ecosystem is therefore essential to the continued development of the green economy (in the UK and Ireland).”

Physics-trained professionals working in the electricity sector? – we would welcome your insights.

Jonathan Spencer Jones

Specialist writer
Smart Energy International

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The researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) have developed an algorithm that uses signals from pumped storage hydropower along with data from grid sensors to produce real-time estimation of the grid inertia.

With increasing intermittent renewable generation, such real-time situational awareness is increasingly critical for grid stability.

Yilu Liu, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for power grids who has led the project, explains that when the hydropower facility pumps shut down, they almost always stop at a fixed power level.

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“That’s a very defined signal on the grid that can help us calculate overall inertia. What we’re providing will become more and more important for grid situational awareness as the system grows increasingly reliant on renewables.”

While inertia is used to maintain the balance between supply and demand, renewable sources such as wind and solar provide only a minimal amount as they are connected to the grid using inverters that convert the DC generation to the AC power for transmission.

Thus renewables-powered grids have less tolerance to abrupt change such as storm damage or unusual demand peaks.

In the project, the researchers created a visualisation interface to monitor the inertia and enable operators to better prepare for potential grid instability.

The new method with the FNET/GridEye sensing and measurement system was validated with the help of utilities and power regulating authorities in the western and eastern US where pumped storage hydropower is most prevalent.

The visualisation tool is currently being demonstrated to utilities and grid coordinating authorities such as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

According to the Dublin-based, state-owned energy company, the battery energy storage system (BESS) is currently the largest site of its kind in commercial operation in Ireland.

The site is the latest in ESB’s project pipeline, consisting of sites in Dublin and Cork, representing an investment of up to €300 million ($323 million).

These high-capacity batteries can store excess renewable energy for discharge when required, and in doing so, help to support Ireland in reaching its ambitious climate targets by 2030 and ESB in achieving its Net Zero by 2040 strategy.

The project, operational since late November 2023, has the capability of providing 75MW of energy for two hours to Ireland’s electricity system.

This plant is located at ESB’s Poolbeg Energy Hub in Dublin where some of the latest technologies that will support the future delivery of renewable energy including batteries, hydrogen and offshore wind will be deployed over the next decade.

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Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, said in a release: “Energy storage like this major battery plant at the ESB’s flagship site in Poolbeg will be a core part of Ireland’s new renewable energy transition and will play a key role in balancing our new, homegrown power supply.

“No electricity system can operate without a backup. In Ireland this has traditionally been provided by fossil fuel generation. However, into the future, we can store increasing amounts of wind and solar power in energy storage projects and use it to support the system instead of relying on dirty and expensive coal or gas.”

Added Jim Dollard, ESB executive director at Generation and Trading: “Today marks another important milestone for ESB as we launch our latest fast-acting grid-scale battery unit that will support grid stability and help to deliver more renewables on Ireland’s electricity system.

“The location of this project, at our Poolbeg Energy Hub, will build on our longstanding history of innovation at the site. We are looking forward to continuing to work with our partners to deliver the remainder of our projects in development this year.”

ESB is working with partners Fluence, as well as Irish companies, Kirby Group and Powercomm Group, in the delivery of these projects at Poolbeg, Aghada, Inchicore, and South Wall in the Republic of Ireland – the remainder of these projects are due to be completed this year.

The company, which operates from Delaware, US, has said that, with pipeline growth to 6GWh in 2023, the company is doubling down on utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) as a priority focus for 2024 and beyond.

Specifically, having already entered the emerging Italian and Australian energy storage markets, as well as moving its first project into operation at Richborough, UK – the company is looking at Australia and Italy as continued hotspots for pipeline expansion, while recharging its origination portfolio in the maturing UK market and taking its first steps into the nascent Polish market.

Pacific Green is targeting a minimum of 1GWh capacity in each market it enters.

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Pacific Green’s targets for 2024 include:

• UK – operation / development / origination

December 2023 saw the company commission and connect to the power grid the 99.8MWh Richborough Energy Park, achieving financial close at neighbouring 373.5MWh Sheaf Energy Park – one of the first and largest non-recourse debt financed BESS sites in the world, transferring ownership of both projects to energy transition fund Sosteneo.

2024 priorities include progressing the construction of Sheaf Energy Park ahead of its July 2025 commissioning date and further expanding the UK origination portfolio.

• Australia – development / origination

Last year, the company secured land exclusivity agreements for two major BESS projects in Southern Australia – the first a 1GW/2GWh project in Portland; the second a 0.5GW/1GWh project in Limestone Coast.

Development is underway for these projects, which will add significantly to regional BESS capacity in Southern Australia and are slated for commercial operation in 2026.

The company now aims to more than double its greenfield origination pipeline to more than 6GWh.

• Italy – development / origination

Having acquired a majority shareholding in five battery energy parks in Italy from originator Sphera Energy in 2023, totalling 2.8GWh capacity, Pacific Green’s team in Italy is targeting financial close on its first 1,500MWh of storage capacity this year, ahead of the start of commercial operations in 2026.

The team also aims to further expand its origination portfolio to almost 5GWh in total.

• Poland – origination

Pacific Green intends to enter the nascent Polish market in 2024, targeting an initial origination pipeline of approximately 400MWh storage capacity.

Scott Poulter, chief executive of Pacific Green Technologies, said in a release:

“Our work in 2023 demonstrated the speed and efficiency with which our team can bring forward vital new BESS assets and deliver significant value to our shareholders – and we intend to continue building the pace in 2024 and beyond.

“The role of battery storage in advancing the energy transition is no longer debatable – but to achieve the momentous growth that’s needed in operational capacity, the market needs to double down on its efforts to originate workable projects and commercialise and deploy the technology efficiently. We’re laser focused on building the pipeline, the team and the international relationships needed to make a real difference in this sector.”

The virtual grid supply came courtesy of the partnership’s Energy Efficiency Summer Reliability Program, also known as Peak Power Rewards, a fully operationalised residential solar and storage distributed power plant.

The partnership between PG&E and Sunrun, a US-based provider of clean energy as a subscription service, saw a maximum enrolment of 8,500 customers and provided a consistent average of 27MW of power during evening peak hours for more than 90 consecutive days.

With an instantaneous peak output of nearly 32MW, the programme frequently supplied the grid with up to 30MW, which the partners say is sufficient power for more than 20,000 homes.

Sunrun managed the participating fleet of home batteries to provide power to PG&E in the same way that a centralised, traditional power plant would.

However, Peak Power Rewards was operational within six months of contract signature, a timeframe not possible when building traditional power plants, the companies state in a release.

“The Peak Power Rewards programme achieved a customer participation rate and power supply volume that’s never been accomplished before,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell.

“PG&E was able to confidently rely on the renewing daily resource of Sunrun’s fleet of home solar and storage systems. We are rapidly transitioning to a storage-first company and the results of this partnership highlight the unique capability that distributed power plants provide communities.”

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Software-managed consumption

Sunrun’s distributed power plant programmes use software to manage the discharging of thousands of home batteries onto the grid in coordination with utility needs, making it so customers don’t need to take any action.

Enrolled battery systems discharged energy back to the grid every day from 7pm to 9pm during the months of August through October, a critical window when energy needs are highest in California.

In exchange, customers received an upfront payment of $750 and a free smart thermostat for participating. Batteries enrolled in the programme retain enough energy to meet personal, essential needs in the event of a local power outage in their area.

“Working together with partners like Sunrun is a win-win-win for our customers, the electric grid and California as a whole. Solar-plus-storage plays a significant role in California’s clean energy future and we’re proud of our customers who are leading the charge with their clean energy adoption,” added Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E Corporation.

PG&E has to date connected nearly 820,000 customers with rooftop solar to the electric grid, totalling approximately 8,039MW of capacity. Additionally, nearly 75,000 PG&E customers have installed and connected storage systems to the grid in PG&E’s service area, totalling more than 670MW of capacity.

According to the utility, these customers could on average rely on over 10 hours of backup power using their storage system, a critical resource for grid resilience, particularly during storms, heatwaves and emergency energy alerts.

“What is happening in California will soon need to be replicated across the country,” Powell said.

“Residential solar-plus-storage systems networked together as distributed power plants are answering the demand call by providing flexible, on-demand power stabilisation while also guarding against increasing rates.”

Two states — California and Texas — account for the vast majority of installed battery storage capacity in the US, which has grown from 1.6 GW in 2020 to more than 14 GW by the end of 2023. The trajectory is only expected to continue.

“There was nothing. Now, we’re chasing our…” said Sai Moorty, principal of market design and development at ERCOT, the Texas grid operator.

Moorty joined a panel of regional grid operators at POWERGEN International 2024 in New Orleans alongside CAISO market design sector manager Danny Johnson and Michael DeSosio, a consultant who previously served as the director of market design at NYISO.

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Battery storage growth in ERCOT can be largely attributed to a streamlined permitting and interconnection process, as opposed to procurement mandates in states like California and New York.

And while batteries have captured much of ERCOT’s ancillary services market, sustained growth could be predicated on market adjustments, Moorty said. Price volatility in energy-only ERCOT creates uncertainty for developers, while the surge in predominately 1-hour batteries creates operational challenges for the grid operator.

Moorty said a capacity construct, which is under consideration, may be the key to incentivising longer-duration battery storage development.

“We have good scarcity pricing, our price gaps are really high, but do they last long enough to justify the additional capital investment?” Moorty said. “Lacking (capacity payments), we’re going to have to wait.”

Other potential pitfalls concern state of charge requirements, which determine the amount of power that must be stored in a battery at a given time.

Moorty acknowledges that a state of charge rule issued by ERCOT last year may be viewed by some battery storage developers as discriminatory to the technology. He said the rule is the product of rapid growth and an imperative to adapt to an evolving grid.

“We just don’t have experience with batteries,” Moorty added. “In ERCOT, we’re playing catch up right now.”

California, the US leader in battery storage deployment with 7.3 GW of nameplate installed capacity, is the country’s most formidable market, thanks to capacity payments, broad participation opportunities, and a sizeable procurement mandate.

There are still “significant” challenges facing grid operators, according to Johnson of CAISO. State of charge management tops the list, he said.

“It’s finding the right balance of flexibility for asset owners to utilize and bid-in their assets as they see fit, while also ensuring that, as a grid operator, those assets will be able to perform as dispatched and we can maintain reliability,” Johnson added.

Another, forward capacity planning for battery storage, still eludes grid operators.

The traditional process of adding up total capacity to meet peak load in the coldest or hottest times of the year doesn’t easily incorporate an asset like battery storage, which has to charge in order to serve the grid.

“The traditional stack analysis goes out the window with storage,” Johnson said. “You have to make sure that they have the ability to discharge the energy. When are you charging? How does that get factored into capacity planning?”

New York State’s 194MW of installed battery capacity pales in comparison to the totals boasted by California and Texas. But near-term capacity constraints, paired with a 3000MW energy storage target, present attractive opportunities for developers.

DeSocio, who now leads the consultancy Luminary Energy, said an indexed energy storage credit construct under consideration in New York is a good start. The program would marry capacity payments with energy arbitrage, which at present isn’t economically attractive enough to incentivise storage deployment in the state.

DeSocio advised developers to avoid New York’s retail market, which treats batteries as native load, triggering demand charges.

“There is a whole lot of pressure to get new resources built,” DeSocio said. “The opportunity for storage is two-fold: maximise wholesale revenues (capacity and ancillary services) and offtakers.”

Originally published by John Engel on power-eng.com.

Blandford Road, Equinor’s first commercial battery storage asset to start operating, comprises about 150 lithium-ion battery units and can store enough electricity to power 75,000 UK homes for two hours.

The project is situated in Dorset in southwest UK and is connected to the Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) network.

Alex Grant, UK Country Manager at Equinor commented on the announcement saying it’s “a significant milestone for our ambition to deliver flexible power and maintain security of supply in the UK.”

Blandford Road was developed and will be operated by the British firm Noriker Power, in which Equinor owns a 45% equity share.

Also, Equinor’s energy trading house Danske Commodities will provide market access, balancing and optimisation services.

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According to Olav Kolbeinstveit, senior vice president for onshore and markets within Renewables at Equinor, the company “envisages a renewables portfolio that combines generation assets such as wind and solar with flexible assets such as batteries to help mitigate the intermittency of the renewable power generation.”

“We have developed a distinct business model that integrates Equinor’s industrial perspective and financial capacity, Noriker’s local capabilities and know-how, and Danske Commodities’ power trading expertise. This business model allows us to quickly scale our battery storage portfolio in the UK and enhance value creation from power markets,” says Kolbeinstveit.

Kolbeinstveit stated that Equinor is also currently building the Welkin Mill battery storage project, which is expected to be operational in 2024. It will have a capacity of 35MW/70MWh and will be able to store enough electricity to power over 100,000 UK homes for two hours.

The UK Government is working to increase flexibility to support its decarbonisation efforts and anticipates that at least 30GW of low-carbon flexible assets, including energy storage, will be needed by 2030 to maintain energy security and cost-effectively integrate high levels of renewable generation.

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com

ESS Technology’s ‘Energy Warehouse’ long duration energy storage is a containerised turnkey solution for commercial and industrial and utility-scale users with an iron flow battery that can deliver up to 12 hours of flexible energy capacity.

The system has been commissioned at the R&D base, which is located at the Engineer Research and Development Centre in Fort Leonard Wood, and has been incorporated into the Centre’s tactical microgrid.

There it has replaced a prototype storage system that had been initially deployed in 2016.

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The aim is to demonstrate the role that long duration energy storage, specifically iron flow battery technology, can play in reducing fuel consumption at contingency bases such as forward operating bases or other temporary use locations.

“Flexible, long duration energy storage reduces total runtime on generators while increasing efficiency and allowing generators to last longer at forward operating bases,” said Tom Decker, Operational Energy programme manager at the Centre.

“Energy storage systems’ safe and resilient technology can dramatically reduce refueling logistics requirements and has the potential to assist in transition to renewable energy. We look forward to demonstrating to all service branches how incorporating an iron flow battery can increase resiliency in military power applications.”

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Currently, most contingency bases are powered by diesel generators which continually adjust output to meet demand. Variation in output results in inefficient operation and increasing fuel consumption, while the delivery of the fuel also presents risks for personnel.

Thus, reducing the fuel demand at the bases reduces costs and emissions while also reducing unnecessary fuel resupply.

The tactical microgrid at the Evaluation Centre is used to simulate a variety of conditions experienced at contingency bases in the field and will demonstrate the opportunity for energy storage to optimise diesel generator performance.

It is expected that the addition of the long duration energy storage should enable generators to operate at peak efficiency, with diesel consumption reduction by up to 40%.

The ‘cap and floor’ proposal is conceptually similar to that developed by Ofgem and currently in operation to enable investment in electricity interconnectors.

In this case, the regime provides a minimum revenue certainty for investors, i.e. the floor, to provide debt security and a regulated limit, i.e. the cap, on revenues to avoid excessive returns.

When revenues fall below the floor level, they are topped up by consumers through the financing mechanism. Conversely, when revenues breach the cap, excessive returns are passed on to the consumer.

“A cap and floor scheme would unlock investment from private sources by providing a revenue guarantee, giving investors reassurance that they will receive a return on their stake, as has been demonstrated in the interconnector scheme,” states a consultation document from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

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“Unlike the capacity market approach, this is potentially a low-cost option if the floor is met and no top-up is provided (the case with the interconnector model to date). It is also expected to reduce the weighted average cost of capital for projects by reducing the overall investment risk, which is particularly important in addressing the high upfront costs associated with developing long duration energy storage and overall system costs.”

The consultation, which runs to March 5, is aimed to seek input on design options for the cap and floor scheme, including considerations on how it is delivered and on how the associated risks are mitigated.

Among these is a proposal to split the scheme into two ‘streams’ – one for established technologies, i.e. pumped hydro storage, liquid air electricity storage, etc., and a second for novel technologies, e.g. compressed air electricity storage, flow batteries, etc. – to allow tailoring to overcome specific barriers and best support the respective technologies.

Long duration energy storage scenario

Alongside the consultation, the DESNZ has also published a deployment analysis of long duration energy storage (LDES) – defined as a capacity of at least 6 hours – which was commissioned from energy transition consultants LCP Delta and Regen.

A key finding is that modelling shows that adding LDES to the system can have a positive impact on both emissions and system costs, with the duration of the deployed storage being the biggest factor in the size of that impact.

For example, adding just 3GW of LDES in 2035 is modelled to reduce power system emissions intensity by 3-8%, while 12GW of LDES could reduce the emissions intensity by 10-28%.

Another top level finding is that the capital costs of LDES technologies are critical in determining their net benefits and at medium capex levels, most technologies tested bring net benefits to the system.

With the ‘optimal’ deployment level depending on the type of LDES technology, with the benefits of different technologies peaking at different points, both the technology type and duration are important in determining the scale of system cost reduction.

Another finding is that LDES can act as a risk mitigation for reduced delivery of other technologies. With lower levels of gas carbon capture and storage and hydrogen deployment, there are greater emissions and system cost benefits when LDES is added to the system.

However, the location of the LDES was found to not be a significant driver of the benefits to the system, with such benefits significantly smaller than the overall benefits of adding LDES to the system.

Overall, LDES technologies could have a significant impact on providing the flexibility the future GB power system will need, the report concludes.

With the capital costs for LDES technologies an important driver of the extent of system benefits, the reduction of these costs should be a key focus and will help bring these technologies to market.

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com

Spearmint broke ground on Revolution in partnership with Mortenson, a developer and engineering services provider. The project reached mechanical completion following the delivery and installation of Sungrow’s PowerTitan Series battery energy storage system.

A workforce of 34 Mortenson craft team members and trade partners contributed approximately 42,000 working hours to install 134 battery containers containing 6,432 Sungrow battery modules, as well as 45 power conversion system (PCS) units, at Revolution. Revolution was completed on schedule and within budget, Spearmint said.

“The project’s completion marks a major milestone for Spearmint as we cement our position as a leader in Texas’ fast-growing battery storage market,” said Andrew Waranch, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Spearmint Energy.

“We are grateful to our many partners, including Mortenson and Sungrow, for their hard work and zero-injury mentality throughout the construction and commissioning process, and look forward to supporting Texas’ growing demand for electricity – particularly in the face of climate change and rising natural gas and oil prices – for years to come.”

In October, Spearmint announced the close of a $92 million tax equity investment in Revolution provided by Greenprint Capital Management, marking one of the first applications of the Investment Tax Credit structure for a standalone battery energy storage system following the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act.

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Also in October, Spearmint Energy announced the close of a $200 million credit facility with Aiga Capital Partners, an investment management firm providing capital solutions to North American-based companies developing sustainable infrastructure assets.

The term loan supports the development of Spearmint’s 1.2 GW/2.4 GWh portfolio of BESS assets in Texas’ ERCOT power market and the continued expansion of the company’s utility-scale storage portfolio across the U.S.

Besides Revolution, the rest of Spearmint’s portfolio of BESS assets in ERCOT is currently comprised of three battery energy storage projects, each with a target capacity of 300 MW, known collectively as Nomadic.

Battery woes in Texas

Throughout a half-dozen warnings and conservation requests over the end of the summer, grid-scale battery storage helped the Texas grid survive fossil fuel generation outages and a brutal heatwave.

But ERCOT, the grid operator, appears poised to implement new regulations that advocates say would stifle battery storage development in the state.

The rules would require battery storage assets to maintain a two-hour state of charge, but some battery companies say these new rules would slow growth and make their jobs harder.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Engineering.

Form Energy, a pioneer of iron-air energy storage, is to deploy a 5MW/500MWh system at the site of a Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) substation in Mendocino County.

The project, which is expected to come online by 2025, is aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-day energy storage to help California meet its renewable energy and zero carbon resource goals, while ensuring electric reliability and affordability.

“Long-duration and multi-day energy storage are critical to achieving California’s clean energy goals,” says David Hochschild, Chair of the California Energy Commission.

“Just like the state has done through its pioneering policies and investments to rapidly scale project deployment and jobs in the solar, lithium-ion battery storage and other industries, California is continuing to accelerate the path to market for emerging technologies that are critically needed to address climate change, air pollution, and equity in our state and globally.”

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The Commission is supporting the project through its Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) programme, which is aimed to accelerate the implementation of non-lithium technologies offering 8+ hours of energy storage.

Form Energy will use the grant funds to develop and operate the project, and PG&E will provide the land and an interconnection point at the substation site.

Form Energy’s technology, offering storage and discharge capacity for 100 hours at system costs declared competitive with legacy power plants is based in essence on reversible rusting.

In discharge the battery takes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust.

While charging the process is reversed with the application of an electric current converting the rust back to iron and the oxygen being released.

Each individual battery module containing about 50 1m-tall cells is about the size of a side by side washing machine and dryer. The modules are grouped in enclosures, which in turn are grouped in megawatt scale blocks.

Current projects under development include a 1.5MW/150MWh system for Great River Energy in Minnesota, which is due to come online in 2025.

Others with a 2026 timeline are a 5MW/500MWh system for Dominion Energy in Virginia, 10MW/1,000MWh systems for Xcel Energy in Colorado and Minnesota and for NYSERDA in New York, and a 15MW/1,500MWh system for Georgia Power in Georgia.

Construction also is under way of the company’s first high volume manufacturing facility, Form Factory 1, in Weirton, West Virginia.

The first manufacturing and assembly of the iron-air battery systems is expected in the second half of 2024, with the annual production capacity ramping up to 500MW in full operation.

Originally published on Power Engineering International.

Mulilo, a South African independent power producer majority owned by Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and EDF will partner on the three projects.

A total of five projects were awarded under South Africa’s first Battery Energy Storage Procurement Programme by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

The three South African projects include:

• Oasis Aggeneis, located in the Northern Cape
• Oasis Mookodi, located in the North West
• Oasis Nieuwehoop, located in the Northern Cape

The consortium holds global experience with battery energy storage systems and local market expertise, ensuring that the three facilities will deliver cost-effective and efficient storage capacity to South Africa’s electricity grid.

The total cost of the projects is estimated to be more than R7 billion ($375 million), and construction is expected to commence in mid-2024.

When completed, the three projects will dispatch electricity under 15-year power purchase agreements to South Africa.

Robert Helms, partner at CIP, commented in a release: “Securing preferred bidder status for the majority of the procured capacity in South Africa’s first public battery storage tender together with EDF marks a significant step in the accelerated growth journey of Mulilo.”

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Alleviating an energy crisis

2023 saw South Africa experience new records of rolling blackouts as the country continues to grapples with an energy crisis.

In a study from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), it is suggested that plans to deploy energy storage systems, including batteries and pumped hydro, could however significantly help to balance electricity supply and demand in the country.

The report from the IISD also found that energy storage is already providing relief from loadshedding and grid batteries are identified as an immediate strategic priority.

Added Helms: “We commend the South African government’s strong commitment to the rapid buildout of battery energy storage, a key focus technology for Mulilo. With the announcement, we are proud for Mulilo to continue its positive contribution to the country’s energy security, socio-economic growth, and green transition.”

“This achievement is an important and significant milestone for Mulilo. I am very proud of the entire team that is currently outperforming our business plans and look forward, together with our partners, to the successful execution of these projects,” said Jan Oberholzer, chairman of the board in Mulilo.

“We remain committed playing our important part ensuring sustainable electricity supply needed for economic growth and the betterment in the lives of the 61 million people in our beautiful country.”

The Open Balancing Platform is a real-time balancing capability set to replace the existing balancing systems and processes National Grid ESO currently uses.

Launched as part of the ESO’s wider Balancing Programme, this first stage is hoped by the UK’s ESO to unlock new levels of precision for the ESO control room, enabling Bulk Dispatch, a new tool that will allow control room engineers to send hundreds of instructions to smaller Balancing Mechanism Units and battery storage sites at the press of a button.

The new system will enable ESO control room engineers to choose options from a pre-selected and optimised list of units to meet a network requirement.

This will reduce the time taken to instruct balancing mechanism units and reduce the number of manual instructions required from the control room, increasing the optimisation of network balancing, speeding up the process and reducing costs.

The optimisation of control room instructions from the Open Balancing Platform will also enable technologies like battery storage to play a more active role in balancing the network.

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Future stages of the Open Balancing Platform will be delivered over 2024 and 2025 to incorporate a wider range of technologies into the Bulk Dispatch process, as well as transfer existing response and reserve services from the Ancillary Services Dispatch Platform to the new Open Balancing Platform.

By 2027 the Open Balancing Platform will grow to replace both the existing Balancing Mechanism (the system used to balance supply and demand) and the Ancillary Services Dispatch Platform (the system used to procure the ESO’s operational reserves and contingency resources).

Craig Dyke, the ESO’s director of System Operations, said in a release: “The Open Balancing Platform is critical to delivering the balancing system we need to meet net zero.

“Further diversification of generation assets, both in technologies and size, require that we deliver more flexible solutions to increase efficiencies and competition, to support the delivery of our zero-carbon ambition and to create savings for consumers.”

“By enabling transformation in our balancing capabilities, the ESO can continue to deliver world class reliability and security, both now and in the future.”

The announcement follows recently announced reform from National Grid in the UK towards grid connection processes.

On its transmission network, 19 battery energy storage projects worth around 10GW will be offered dates to plug in, averaging four years earlier than their current agreement, based on a new approach which removes the need for non-essential engineering works prior to connecting storage.

The new policy is part of National Grid’s connections reform initiative targeting transmission capacity, spearheaded by the ESO, which owns the contractual relationship with connecting projects.

InnoEnergy, a training skills provider for the sustainable energy workforce in Europe, achieved the milestone nearly two years since its inception in February 2022.

50,000 learners completed training courses designed to equip them with essential skills for navigating the battery value chain.

These training programmes, developed in collaboration with the European Battery Alliance, covered topics such as battery fundamentals through to technical courses encompassing knowledge in battery management systems, battery testing, safety and security.

Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission executive vice-president, said in a release: “We want our European industry to be leaders in the green transition. This of course includes European manufacturers of sustainable batteries, whom as recently announced, we will support with financial aid of up to €3 billion ($3.2 billion).

“With this support, but also with the continuation of our efforts to prepare the workforce with skills for the evolving industry, we will bolster the competitive edge of our companies and secure a strong value chain for batteries. The European Battery Alliance skills programme serves as a successful blueprint for other sectors.”

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According to the Institute, annual demand for lithium-ion batteries projected to reach 4,700GWh by 2030 globally – an increase of more than six times the global usage figure of around 700GWh in 2022. Stationary storage installations worldwide are also predicted to reach over 400GW by the end of 2030 – 15 times the battery storage capacity online at the end of 2021.

As the sector continues to expand, employers and employees will need to adapt. Market analysis signals 800,000 workers will need to be trained or upskilled by the end of 2025 to meet the new demand in Europe.

In addition, more than 700 unique job profiles and skills in the sector have been identified in a recent report by InnoEnergy Skills Institute. The range of occupations encompasses skills required to mine materials, design, manufacture, integrate within applications, decommission and recycle batteries.

Said Oana Penu, InnoEnergy Skills Institute director: “EIT InnoEnergy firmly believes that enabling ecosystems is key to addressing skills gaps at scale. Through the InnoEnergy Skills Institute we are mobilising both industry and training development partners as multipliers, we can successfully propagate knowledge to even more learners around Europe.

“At a critical moment for European industry, we aim to empower the workforce to be active participants in the net zero transition and ensure nobody is left behind.”

The Institute’s growth has been facilitated by support from 11 Member States and regions, including Spain, France, Hungary, Gothenburg Region, Romania, Bulgaria, Flanders, Wallonia, Ireland, Slovakia, and partnerships with employment agency ManpowerGroup and skills and talent development company NIIT.

Riccardo Barberis, ManpowerGroup’s regional president of Northern Europe said: “This programme is an investment in people and the planet, creating opportunities for individuals to have meaningful careers that benefit us all. ManpowerGroup is proud to collaborate with InnoEnergy to build a pipeline of skilled talent who will support Europe’s transition to a net-zero future is not only smart business, but the right thing to do to help people level up their potential.”

The announcement was made at the COP28 climate conference and includes support in the form of a project-level grant commitment of up to €35,000,000 ($38,000,000) from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and €25,000,000 ($27 000,000) venture debt financing commitment from the European Investment Bank.

The funds are being made available through the EU–Breakthrough Energy Catalyst partnership.

The project will use a standard frame 20MW/200MWh CO2 battery, which can supply energy to the grid for ten consecutive hours.

It will be the first of a series of identical units using the same technology design, allowing Energy Dome to standardise the CO2 battery frames.

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The CO2 Battery does not use materials from rare metals and its main components are based on already existing and known supply chains.

This investment will be used to scale, and commercialise Energy Dome’s ready-to-be-deployed, long-duration energy storage concept.

According to Energy Dome, the solution has a high round-trip efficiency and competitive capital expenditure requirements.

The Commercial Operation Date of the storage facility is expected to take place in the third quarter of 2024.

Claudio Spadacini, founder and CEO of Energy Dome, said: “What better time than during COP28 to announce the collaboration with the EU-Breakthrough Energy Catalyst partnership, which is a true catalyst for our company. The collaboration will accelerate the commercialization of our market-ready technology and will be the first of many identical full-scale CO2 Batteries. We have already started to be at the core of the energy transition. Remember, our world can’t wait.”

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst funds and invests in first-of-a-kind commercial projects for emerging climate technologies.

The European Investment Bank will provide venture debt financing backed by InvestEU. The EU aligns capital with Catalyst using funds available from Horizon Europe & Innovation Fund through the InvestEU Program with the European Investment Bank, as implementing partner of the European Commission.

Gelsomina Vigliotti, EIB vice-president, said: “I am delighted to announce the EIB’s intention to support Energy Dome with a €25 million Venture Debt financing. It is an inspiring example of game-changing technology that we need more of in Europe and worldwide. At the same time, the project will promote job creation and economic growth in Sardinia.”

Energy harvesting brings carbon benefits

Energy harvesting specialist EnOcean has estimated that users of its devices are saving 1.4Mt of CO2 annually – equivalent to taking over 304,000 cars off the road – and growing as the installed base exceeds over one million premises served.

Such devices – sensors that can harness energy not only from sunlight but also from motion in for example switches and from temperature differences such as in heat pump valves – are estimated to deliver an average of approximately 15% reduction in a building’s energy consumption.

Currently, EnOcean’s wireless building-automation devices manage 221 million m2 of floorspace or the equivalent of around 74,000 football fields, the company boasts.

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“Reducing our energy demand is critical for transitioning to renewable sources and combating climate change,” says Armin Anders, co-founder and VP Business Development at EnOcean, noting that buildings are responsible for 40% of global energy consumption.

“Products like ours, which allow us to eliminate unnecessary energy consumption, represent quick and affordable wins compared to extensive infrastructure investments.”

EnOcean’s devices are reported to be able to communicate with heating, air conditioning and lighting, monitor occupancy and people flow, and allow settings to be automatically adjusted for optimum user convenience while saving energy.

They are battery-free, eliminating the need for regular servicing and battery replacement and they are easy to install without any special cabling or power source setups.

Fike Blue – the response to battery thermal runaways

Concerns about fires due to thermal runaway in lithium ion battery cells have been on the increase – but may now be allayed with what is stated as the “first third party tested solution” to stop such fires.

The solution, Fike Blue, from the US hazard prevention developer Fike Corporation, is a liquid that is piped from a cylinder to the site of the fire after activation by a heat anomaly.

Fike Blue immerses the overheated cells within the module, absorbing the intense exothermic heat without breaking down due to a boiling point of more than 400^oC.

It uses exponentially less liquid than the water required by sprinklers and especially by fire fighters, resulting in less runoff into the surrounding environment and may be stored for at least five years at 25oC without the formation of precipitates or sediment.

Omri Tayyara, director of mechanical engineering at Jule, who observed Canadian Standards Association’s testing of Fike Blue, says that the liquid cooled their internal module temperatures from several hundred degrees Celsius to under one hundred degrees – “and the whole thing was done in less than 10 minutes”.

A quantum space collaboration that could impact energy

The US Department of Energy has launched a Quantum & Space collaboration to harness cutting edge quantum technologies for advancements in energy among other areas including national security and support for sustainability goals.

Participants include the DOE, the Department of Defence, quantum product provider Infleqtion, space computing specialist Nebula Space Enterprises and consultant Accenture Federal Services.

“This collaboration has been long in the making,” explains Rima Kasia Oueid, who is the lead and Commercialisation Executive in the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions.

“We stand on the brink of a new economic era – one that expands into space, propelled by current and soon-to-be-realised quantum technologies. These advancements are poised to enhance global safety, economic stability and overall human welfare, while also unlocking the potential to discover and efficiently use space resources.”

The target is to begin space environmental demonstrations using quantum technologies in early 2024 and to begin evaluating use cases and new commercialisation opportunities.

The participants intend to leverage their technology portfolios to foster a range of space-oriented capabilities, such as quantum secure communications, quantum sensing and the integration of quantum with classical computing in orbital environments.

They also should provide initial feasibility assessments on the deployment of a mesh network of data centres delivering hybrid quantum computing capabilities, enhanced by quantum sensing, powered by nuclear energy and connected by secure quantum communications.

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Also on the radar are the closing of Gridmatics’ storage fund, Siemens’ financial safety net and the sale of a 410MW battery storage pipeline.

Norwegian investment in Indian transmission

The Norwegian Climate Investment Fund, managed by government-owned Norfund and KLP, Norway’s largest pension company, is investing approximately $9 million for a 49% stake in the Koppal Transmission Scheme.

The project is being led by Indian decarbonisation solutions company ReNew, marking their first interstate transmission project to help transmit renewable energy in the Koppal Area of Karnataka, India.

The Indian scheme was awarded in fiscal year 2022 and covers the construction of a new 400/220kV substation at Koppal along with 144km of 400kV direct current transmission line with extension of the 40kV GIS Bays at the PGCIL (Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd) Narendra substation.

ReNew said the investment aligns with their ‘farm-down strategy’, whereby developers sell stakes in renewable assets to institutional investors looking for long-term and stable yields, to add further renewable capacity to the grid.

In addition, synergies in project execution and operations with ReNew’s in-house capabilities are hoped to enhance returns and derisk completion timelines for ReNew’s core renewable energy development business.

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Through the partnership, every rupee invested by Norfund will equate to 15 rupees mobilised from private capital, said Norfund in a release.

Commented Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norway’s minister of international development: “To secure the necessary investments for the vital energy transition, public funding must mobilise private capital. The signing between the Climate Investment Fund, ReNew and KLP is a great example of this.

“It also shows how Norwegian investments are helping India reach its goals of installing 500GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.”

ReNew has won three transmission projects in Karnataka to date. Central Transmission Utility (CTU), a state-owned entity and a wholly-owned subsidiary of PGCIL, will be responsible for billing, collection and disbursement of revenues for the projects.

Following the commissioning of the 1,500MW Koppal Scheme, the remaining transmission for 3,500MW (ReNew has commited to build transmission for approximately 5GW in renewable energy) is expected to be completed by June 2024.

Funding update: Gridmatic’s second closing

Gridmatic, an AI-enabled power marketer, has announced the second closing of its first energy storage fund, bringing capital commitments to $50 million.

The storage fund opened earlier this year in August, aiming to allow the Californian energy supplier to establish multi-year offtake contracts with asset owners to operate energy storage using its AI algorithms.

The fund is earmarked to oversee the management of up to 500MW of battery capacity in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and CAISO (California Independent System Operator) markets.

ERCOT and CAISO run the Texan and Californian grids respectively, remaining the two strongest US energy markets with pipelines of 32GW and 43.7GW in planned project capacity.

“Successfully closing our energy storage fund now allows us to accelerate our growth in signing offtake agreements with asset owners and developers,” said David Miller, vice president of business development for Gridmatic.

“This summer showed us the major potential for battery storage in California and Texas to contribute to grid resiliency efforts. Our fund will help maximize these opportunities for batteries to play a greater role in the grid and for the market to grow.”

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ICYMI: Siemens Energy’s safety net and Indian decoupling

Germany’s Federal government is stepping in to offer a ‘safety net’ to Siemens Energy as the company reported a net loss of €4.5 billion ($5 billion) for the 2023 fiscal year and an order backlog of €112 billion ($121.6 billion).

Siemens Energy will receive a €12 billion ($13 billion) guarantee line from a banking consortium, with Berlin’s €7.5 billion ($8 billion) counter guarantee provided to the banks in order to ensure the guarantee line is successful.

Officially announced during the company’s Q4 media briefing, the financing was agreed upon to re-insure the tech company.

“The demand for our technologies and products is huge,” said Siemens Energy chief executive Christian Bruch. “It is industry practice to offer guarantees to ensure potential customer requirements are met.

“It is not a loan.” He added: “It is important to be able to cover our huge incoming orders, in particular the wind area.”

Announced at the same time as the safety net, and as part of measures to support the stability of Siemens Energy, Siemens – which still holds a 25% stake in Siemens Energy – also announced its intentions to acquire an 18% stake in Siemens Ltd India from Siemens Energy for a cash price of €2.1 billion ($2.3 billion).

The purchase will be done via a share purchase agreement with Siemens Energy, increasing Siemens’ stake in the publicly listed company from 51% to 69%, with Siemens Energy’s stake decreasing from 24% to 6%.

Read the full story covered on Power Engineering International

Emeren sells 410MW battery storage portfolio

Emeren Group Ltd, a solar project developer, has sold a portfolio of five Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Italy to Matrix Renewables, an energy platform created and backed by alternative asset manager TPG and its $16 billion impact-investing platform TPG Rise.

Emeren called the transaction a significant milestone within the framework of a Development Service Agreement (DSA) the two executed in June, which outlines the development of a 1.5GW BESS portfolio.

The five projects feature standalone storage systems, with a cumulative capacity of 3,787MWh.

The entire portfolio is strategically located in the Italian southern region of Apulia, significantly enhancing the regional energy infrastructure. Ready-to-build status is expected to be achieved by late 2024.

Chris Matthews, managing director for Europe at Matrix Renewables, commented in a release, “Our partnership with Emeren underscores our commitment to driving renewable energy expansion and sustainability in the vibrant Italian market.

“The acquisition of the 410MW BESS portfolio significantly advances our mission to reshape the energy landscape and fortify the resilience of the power grid.”

Emeren has a pipeline of projects and IPP (independent power producer) assets totalling over 3GW, as well as a storage pipeline of over 6GWh across Europe, North America and Asia. The company focuses on solar power project development, construction management and project financing services.

Matrix Renewables’ current portfolio is comprised of 11.7GW in renewable energy and storage projects in Europe, North America and Latin America.

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The battery storage project will be located in Alfeld (Leine), Lower Saxony, Germany.

According to the project development company of large-scale battery energy storage systems, the facility will be the largest approved storage project on the continent to date, surpassing the current record holder in Europe by 50%.

The storage facility will be built near a substation, its high storage capacity making it possible to store surplus energy from renewable sources and feed it back into the grid as needed.

To do so, the facility will charge at times of low demand and favourable electricity prices, especially when generation from renewable sources is high. It will then discharge at times of high demand and correspondingly expensive electricity prices – i.e., at times when there is little renewable electricity in the grid.

The project is being called a milestone in Germany by Kyon for increasing the flexibility of the power grid; according to the company, the project’s capacity will be enough to supply one million households with electricity for one hour.

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“For the success of the energy transition in Germany, it is essential to massively expand storage capacities. Battery storage is indispensable for the integration of renewable energies into our power grids and for security of supply in Germany.

“The approval of the project in Alfeld is a decisive step towards a sustainable and independent energy future,” stated Florian Antwerpen, managing director of Kyon Energy.

The mayor of Alfeld (Leine), Bernd Beushausen, added: “We have found a reliable partner in Kyon Energy. The town is very proud that the company has decided to build its new large-scale battery storage facility here in Alfeld.

“We are therefore delighted to be working with Kyon Energy to ensure that the town of Alfeld (Leine) can act as a role model for the district of Hildesheim in the area of the energy transition from 2025.”

Construction of the plant is scheduled to start next year, with commissioning to follow by the end of 2025.

In the past two years, Kyon Energy has commissioned storage projects with a capacity of over 120MW.

Further permits for almost half a gigawatt of storage capacity have now been granted, supporting Kyon Energy in its ambition to ensure the further expansion of half of the current storage market in Germany (around 1.17GW).

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According to Research and Markets’ report – titled Lithium-ion Battery Market, Size, Global Forecast 2024-2028, Industry Trends, Share, Growth, Insight, Impact of Inflation, Company Analysis – escalating consumer expenditure on electronic devices is a giant catalyst for the battery market’s value surge.

Additionally, the increasing costs of fossil fuels and gas have triggered significant adoption of electrical automobiles, propelling market enlargement.

The researcher’s predictions, they state in a release, suggest a sizeable global Li-Ion battery demand increase, skyrocketing from over 700GWh in 2022 to approximately 4.7TWh by 2030.

Notably, mobility applications like electric vehicles are set to dominate this demand, accounting for approximately 4,300GWh in 2030, reflecting the ever-expanding landscape of electric mobility.

Emergent India

According to Research and Markets, policy measures, including bans on sales of internal combustion engines (ICEs) are additional propellers.

Norway will halt sales by 2025, France by 2040 and the UK by 2050.

India targets to phase out ICE engines in 2030, while China is developing a comparable plan.

Additionally, global zero-carbon projects have turbocharged EV demand, states the researcher, driving the need for Li-Ion batteries in electric-powered vehicle power systems.

The report cites how, in India, the government aims to achieve 30% EVs by 2030. Furthermore, in July 2019, the goods and services tax (GST) on EVs was reduced from 12% to 5% and it has, in turn, also introduced an income tax exemption for prospective EV buyers.

The tech’s evolution and rising customer expectancies for extended battery existence and faster charging similarly boost the demand for global Li-Ion.

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The research also highlights projects in the country, such as FAME – an incentive scheme that encourages the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles.

According to Customized Energy Solutions (CES), an energy advisory, software and services company, in their 2022 India Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure & Battery Swapping Market Overview Report, efforts taken by the Department of Heavy Industries through the FAME Scheme have resulted in a significant increase in the number of charging stations in the country.

State governments, they find, are also taking active steps to increase EV charging networks by providing attractive incentives in the form of capital subsidy and 100% reimbursement of state goods and services tax.

They add how annual sales of Li-Ion-based EVs are expected to be 17 million in 2030 under a ‘Business as usual’ scenario.

This, alongside the need for dependable energy storage solutions in the country, specifically in the renewable sectors, like sun and wind power, has also served to boost battery deployment.

India is thus rising as a worldwide manufacturing hub for these batteries, states the Research and Markets through their report, attracting massive investments.

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